Please Help Me understand!

[Veganlife]

Hello I have been a vegan for about 8 months and truly enjoy it! I wasn't much of a meat eater or dairy eater anyways so the vegan lifestyle just seemed like common sense to me. My husband is also a vegan and he also does all the cooking. He gets most of his recipes from Christinacooks.com and her show.

Since I have been a vegan I have gained weight! I love junk food (dairy free). I do exercise every other day and I drink only water and have 1 cup of coffee in the AM. I have read alot of articles about vegans trying to lose weight and came across Dr. McDougall's maximum weight loss. I immediatly ran out and got his book.

I am really really want to lose this weight but I don't think i really understand Dr. McDougall's book. I'm already a vegan so i eat most of what he states I should eat with exception of the sugar & coffee which I will definitly get off of.

Can anyone help me to understand exactly what I should do to lose weight since I AM a vegan? Is there another book of his I should get?
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100% Cruelty Free Lady!

[Veganlife]

You are so right in regards to Christina using alot of oils. Thanks again for you help! I do consume alot of seeds and nuts which I now know I shouldn't. I also eat alot of fruit because it gives me the sugar high I crave. I too have a desk job and it's so easy to just munch on nuts, seeds and fruits. WOW this has been an eye opener.

Thanks again!

[ETeSelle]

If you have been eating vegan junk food, that's the first thing you have to fix! I have a weakness for it as well. It's soooo easy to slap some Tofutti Better than Sour Cream on a tater! But you might as well use real sour cream or butter as far as the health effects go.

Also, OIL is not your friend. So many vegan recipes call for a lot of oil, or for tahini (which is very high fat), etc. The key is to accustom yourself to simpler tastes.

Good luck!

[Veganlife]

Okay so i'm a little confused about the diet. Dr. McDougall states that the main core of the diet is starchy foods. Isn't that going to make me gain more weight? I already eat lots of veggies and i just started drinking plain herbal tea instead of coffee and have had no junk food.

HELP

[happyalyssa]

Eating starches in themselves don't make a person fat. A calorie is a calorie, (whether it be protein, carbs, fat, or alcohol) after all.

One of the benefits to the McDougall plan is the fact that if you're filling up on low fat, high-fiber starches (beans and brown rice for example) than you're going to feel fuller faster (more volume of food) and be more sustained for longer than if you're eating sugar/oil/salt filled peanutbutter and jelly on white bread.

The emphasis here is not entirely just based on vegan foods, nor just low fat foods, but on less processed foods as well. Your body will absorb whole grains slower and leaving you feeling satisfied longer than their refined counterparts. By no means does McDougall reccomend eating a bowl of sugar-o's for breakfast just because it is high in carbohydrates.

Keep in mind that
1 gram of carbohyrate = 4 calories
1 gram of protein = 4 calories
1 gram of fat = 9 calories
1 gram of alcohol = 7 calories

This means you're taking in over twice the volume of food if you're eating carbohydrates than if you're eating fats. Although protein is also low calorie in comparison, depending on what source you're getting it from, you often aren't getting the fiber and many of the nutrients that are found in starchy foods like fresh vegetables, fruits, and grains. Plus a high protein diet can be detrimental to good health, so it is important to make sure that you're not over-consuming.

Anyway I think that's the basic jist of it. I don't have the Maximum Weight Loss plan book, but I'm sure there's good information in there as well.

[Veganlife]

Thanks everyone! I will keep at this and hopefully will lose weight. But i do have to tell you all I am craving some chocolate! But i know it will pass.